Spring of Faith
by littledustbunny
Summary: He realized that after all this time, she still has his faith. SasuSaku DISCONT
1. Don't Talk to Strangers

**Spring of Faith**

Chapter One: Don't talk to Strangers

* * *

It was a box.

A black wooden box with the bodies of two dragons carved on its edges, sitting on her desk, waiting to be opened.

The box should have been given to her the day she made Hokage. It was kept hidden by old council members, and it was only after the council had been reshuffled that some of the new members had found out what the former members had been hiding.

It was left behind for whoever becomes the Godaime, from the Sandaime.

Tsunade took a deep breath as she proceeded to open the box. It made a squeaking noise as she lift the wooden lid open. Soon, she found herself looking at two neatly rolled scrolls.

Tsunade picked one up and began to unfold it slowly. Her eyes darted side-to-side, reading the letter quickly before her eyes widened.

_Uchiha Itachi took orders from the… council?_

She then screamed on the top of her lungs, "SHIZUNE!"

Before her assistant even entered the room, she barked her orders, "Get me Sakura, NOW!"

***

"Ouch," the brown haired jounin cried.

"You have got to be kidding me," cursed the twenty-one-year-old, pink-haired medic.

She wasn't scheduled for any important sessions or surgeries for the day. Consequently, she got stuck helping the new medics administer monthly mass 'immunizations' to the male ninja population.

"Why it does hurt when you jam that thing to my ass like that, pet?" he winked.

"Genma, clearly you have had far worse injuries, and you are just complaining to ruin my reputation!"

The shots need to be administered three times, and for all those three times, Genma managed to shout out something different each time, causing the new medics to look their way.

"Your reputation is way too clean, pet; it's not good for the balance."

"Right," she replied while slapping a band-aid on his behind, "because what I really want people to know is that I'm an incompetent, sloppy and rough medic by day and a whore by night. Thanks, Genma."

Genma jumped from the bed. "Aww…everyone knows that my pretty Sakura-chan plays nice. Although with just one sight of my ass can really change your world," he winked. "That's what they say before coming back to my bed the next day."

"Whatever," she rolled her eyes. "Just get out of here before I tear a new hole in your ass."

"Gone," he said, picking up his senbon before he sent her his signature wink.

'_Men…'_ she muttered under her breath.

Sakura really had a particular dislike of men like Genma—not personally, but rather from a general female point of view.

Ever since her idiotic childhood crush on the Uchiha avenger, Sakura never really thought she could have a serious relationship with a guy. She tried going out with a jounin once, but it didn't work out. She was too busy and, honestly, she wasn't ready.

She never thought she could really give her whole heart, body and soul to someone else anymore. Not after what Sasuke did to her.

She remembered him saying, "Thank you" before he left. Which was nice, but she also remembered his cold dark stare the last time she'd met him at Orochimaru's lair. Not to mention his intent and desire to kill her and Naruto.

Sakura could never have believed that _the_ Sasuke whom she was willing to give her heart, body and soul to, her whole package…had turned into a monster. She'd always thought that people change, albeit not as drastically as Sasuke, but she would never risk that again.

She would never risk getting hurt like _that_ again.

Her resolve wasn't a secret. Almost everyone in Konoha knew that even though she was sweet, nice and all, there would always be a side of her that remained closed and untouchable.

Yet it did not keep half of the male population in the village from going after her.

Perhaps that's what made her so 'enticing.' Everyone could see her, yet no one could get their hands on her.

She was no longer that little girl who'd cried during the Chuunin exam and cared about her hair above everything else. She was strong, intelligent and exceptionally attractive.

Tossing her pink hair aside, she shouted out, "Next!"

Some giddy-looking, unknown chuunin made his way to her. "I'm next, Haruno-san, I'm next."

"Well, hi there. I thought Ayako-san gave you the shot already," Sakura said politely.

"Well..um..I'm going on this mission next week, and I think it's best that I stay extra fit. Maybe even a double dose of this can do just that."

"Hmm," Sakura smirked wickedly. "A double dose of this can result in unwanted side-effect."

The chuunin shifted uncomfortably in his place. "Oh. Like how?"

"Like turning your penis blue."

And before Sakura even got the chance to add warts to her overly elaborative lie, the Chuunin had darted off away.

"Sassy, Sakura," said a voice behind her.

"Ah, Shizune-senpai," Sakura turned and gave a nod to her senior, "I was just playing around."

"I see you are busy here; let me take over. Tsunade needs you. It's urgent."

"You bet."

'_It must be urgent if she is willing to take my place and stick needles up annoying shinobi asses_,' she thought as she headed to the Hokage tower.

***

"Shishou, what is it? Shizune said it's urgent. It's not Naruto, is it? I told him to never use that forbi-"

"No, Sakura," she silenced her student.

"This is about Uchiha…?"

"Shishou, I told you I'd do any mission in any rank but nothing to do with…"

"Itachi. This is about Uchiha Itachi, not that stubborn and dimwitted brother of his," the Fifth scoffed.

"Oh?"

"Well, it has something to do with Sasuke but is mainly about Itachi."

Sakura furrowed her brows. "What is it? Why do you need me so urgently?"

"It seems that after the recent changes in the council, some critical information had just resurfaced. Had they not kept that information hidden, we would be able to deal with this problem in a much simpler and safer way."

Sakura nodded, signaling for her shishou to continue.

"The third Hokage had left me behind a valuable piece of information regarding the Uchiha clan. What I'm about to tell you now, you must keep to yourself, Sakura."

"Of course, what is it?"

"It seems that Uchiha Itachi had killed his entire family under the orders given by the council, much to Sandaime's disapproval."

"WHAT? THE COUNCIL? WHA-"

"Let me finish. Uchiha Itachi was obviously unable to complete his mission, as he left his younger brother physically unscathed. According to Sandaime, Itachi loved the village more than he loved his family. He was disappointed when he found out that his family was planning to stage a coup against the Hokage."

"What? Did the Hokage knew about this at the time?"

"Yes, but he believed that there are ways other than violence to stop this. The council, however, outnumbered him and pressured Itachi to kill his entire clan. But what is more important is what Itachi is planning to do."

"Is he going to kill the old council members?"

"No, Sakura, he is planning on killing himself."

"WHAT? How?"

"By letting Sasuke kill him"

"Shishou, as confused as I am now, I'm still not sure that we should interfere in their familial affairs."

"Sakura, listen to me. Itachi is planning to let Sasuke kill him, so that Sasuke can gain the Mangekyou Sharingan. Sandaime also predicted that Sasuke might have fallen under the tutelage of a certain dark figure."

"How does he know all this, Shishou?"

"It was obvious, Sakura, that Sandaime is protecting Sasuke in the absence of Itachi. With the Sandaime gone, leaving Sasuke's in an unstable condition, it is just a given that he will follow a darker path. Sandaime predicted that whatever Itachi planned on doing to Sasuke, his goal is to draw out all the 'dark' influences in him. He plans to have an all out battle."

"But, Shishou, these can be done through medical ninjutsu."

"That, Itachi does not know. Medical ninjutsu was not always as advanced as they are now, Sakura. I'm sure that both Itachi and Sandaime did not know about this."

Tsunade paused, and the look in her face had changed into one of anger. "What is more important is that Itachi had been a spy for Konoha in the Akatsuki. He has been waiting for someone to contact him ever since Sandaime died. That was why he came into the village after the Chuunin exam. Had this stupid goddamn box been given to me earlier, we wouldn't be running out of time!"

Sakura looked at her teacher, puzzled. "Running out of time?"

"Yes, Itachi is sick. Sandaime was never sure what Itachi had; he only knew that Itachi's years were numbered. This year is probably his last, Sakura. His time is running out, and he must have been waiting for a contact. But we left him there to rot and die."

"Oh my god…His eyesight, shishou. I remembered the last time I saw him…it's deteriorating"

"Could be some sort of brain tumor. The point is, Sakura, that he was only what…seventeen, eighteen when he murdered his own clan. It was a cruel, cruel thing to do, but he was young and naïve. He matured too early—that's the thing with people being a jounin at such an early age. They get 'brainwashed' so easily and take too long to realize that it was a big mistake. I'm not going to let one of my shinobi plan a suicide mission, especially when there are other options!"

Sakura felt angry and confused. _Too much information in such a short time, _she thought.

She hated it when the line between right and wrong was blurry. Nothing is so much as black or white anymore these days.

She sighed. "What do you want me to do, Shishou?"

"I want you to get in touch with Uchiha Itachi. Tell him, Sakura… tell him that we have and can do all that he is planning to do without having to sacrifice any of the last remaining Uchihas in the world."

"How, Shishou? How do I get in touch with him?"

"According to the letter, his sort of rendezvous point with the Sandaime was a teahouse in the border of Fire and River Country."

"I'll find him, Shishou. What about the others? Is it a solo mission?"

Tsunade shook her head.

"I will quickly try to dispatch Naruto, Kakashi and Sai from their mission and tell them to meet you at the border of Fire country. I want you to heal Uchiha Itachi as much as you can and convince him to not engage in any kind of battle with his younger brother. After that, I want you to also convince him to come back to Konoha."

"I understand."

"Here" Tsunade gave Sakura two small scrolls, "These are copies of the scroll that Sandaime put in the box that was given to me. The first scroll is his letter; the second one contains instructions to a complicated procedure of acquiring the Mangekyou Sharingan. Sandaime did some thorough research, but it is still incomplete."

"Shishou, I might be able to work on something. This area…this _is _my specialty."

Tsunade nodded. "Off you go, then; leave at dawn tomorrow."

"Hai!" Sakura bowed, and just before she closed the door behind her, she shouted out, "Just don't drink too much while I'm gone, Shishou!"

'_You'll do well, Sakura'_…

***

Dressed like a civilian, Sakura shifted her hidden pack into place as she stepped outside Konoha. She thanked God that it was a good morning. No rain or thunderstorms to start out the day.

The first thing she did was loosen the tie of her forehead protector. No one, especially anyone in River Country, should find out that she was a Leaf Ninja. She'd looked at herself twice this morning to make sure of it. The short and loose green yukata she was wearing provide her enough disguise as a civilian and enough room for her to hide her small pack and weapons. Her high, brown, leather gladiator-like sandals also completed her casual look while still remaining comfortable enough to walk and fight in.

As she walked on the footpath of the Fire country, she thought about what she should say and do to Itachi. She wasn't very antsy about the former, but she was definitely nervous about what she should do.

She had no idea what kind of illness Itachi had. Scanning her brain over their previous encounters, Sakura seemed to remember Kakashi making a remark about his eyesight.

Or was he talking about the Sharingan? Or maybe Itachi was losing his eyesight and Kakashi knew about it, too, because it also happened to him?

Sakura shook her head. She remembered her first days of being Tsunade's apprentice and recalled one of her Shishou's first bits of advice.

"_Never, Sakura, make prior judgments and speculations on a case before you see and handle it firsthand. There are so many things you need to consider in the medical shinobi world. Age, fitness, chakra, present condition, bloodline limit. It's endless, so never let your brain frame a situation before you see it firsthand,"_ her wise Shishou had once said.

_Still_, she thought, _I just hope my medical background is enough to help him. _

After five years of general and combat medical training, Tsunade had told the pink-haired medic that she should choose a further 'specialty.' Seeing the 'why' look on her apprentice's face, Tsunade had explained that even medic-nin would never be able to grasp all sections of medical knowledge.

She knew that Shizune-senpai was the expert in internal medicine, especially cardiology and pulmonology. She remembered Shizune had once said her medical skills had helped her numerous times in combat, where she would occasionally send her chakra to tap on the enemy's body to make their heart stop.

_Nifty_, Sakura had thought then.

She'd also remembered that Ayako-san was well on her way to being an excellent dermatologist, and that Hinata-chan had showed interest in being a pediatrician. Sakura had also known that Konoha had at least a dozen general surgeons and a few plastic and cardiothoracic surgeons.

And so back then, when her heart was still yearning for that stupid Uchiha, she'd chosen a specialty which she thought might be useful for him one day. _Plus, no one in Konoha does this yet… which would make me special_, she'd thought then.

Haruno Sakura then studied everything there was to know on the brain, eye and nervous systems. Her best friend, Ino, had once said, "That's impossible, forehead! Don't be too ambitious! You're just going to kill yourself!"

She hadn't. She had become an expert in everything there is to know about the brain, eye and nervous system in both normal and bloodline trait ninjas.

Of course, it all came with a price. During those four years, Sakura officially had no social life, no love life (let alone sex life), and almost no mission life. While people often complimented her on her slim figure, Sakura often took it as an insult. "There's no secret diet!" she had insisted upon Ino's annoying questioning. "It isn't something that I intend to happen," she said, looking down at her chest area. "It's all the studying, Pig!"

The only time she spent outside the hospital walls was spent either for Kakashi's or Tsunade's rigorous training. Ino and Naruto visited her often.

"Even nuns have more fun than you, forehead," Ino once commented, "but I still don't understand how you get to have so many guys swooning over you. It's not like you get out of this place a lot."

Sakura had smiled evilly. "Ino, this is a hospital in a shinobi village. There is only one thing that all shinobi have in common: _injuries_."

Ino's eyes had widened. "You mean…"

"Pig, took you a long time to figure it out, huh? Hospital here is equal to a mall or a bar in civilian villages."

Yamanaka Ino started her general medical training the next day.

Sakura sighed at the memory. She'd hoped that all those years of tears, frustration, and a great lack of sleep would finally paid off. Sure, she had helped shinobi and Konoha civillians needing her area of expertise, but there had not been a single case yet where she could say that she had sacrificed those four years for a reason.

She had, however, been going out more often and eating properly in the last few days. She had hated that skin-and-bones look she'd had for a few years, and she had decided fix that. With more proper meals and vitamins combined with just the right training, she was beginning to like her figure more, especially that chest area she so used to hate.

And finally, like a breath of fresh air, she was back on a mission. The sun slowly rising along with every step she took, the smell of fresh dew and crisp green grass, she enjoyed every single thing. So immersed was Sakura in her thoughts and surroundings, that she failed to realize she was walking in the wrong direction.

'_Crap!_' she cursed inwardly.

The footpath she was on led to the other end of Fire Country, towards the Great Naruto Bridge. She should have gone the opposite way to reach River Country. She cursed and cursed and cursed, knowing that she had walked for almost three hours in the wrong direction and would be spending twice the amount of the wasted time to get to her location.

To make sure she didn't screw up again, she took out a map from a hidden pocket inside the sleeves of her green yukata. Scrutinizing the map carefully, she traced a faster way to get to the border of Fire and River Country.

She tucked the map back in and was about to move when she heard a loud thump from outside the pathway, on her left.

Her eyes narrowed and her senses kicked into full battle mode.

"Who's there?"

No answer.

Walking stealthily off the footpath, she couldn't see anyone. She could, however, sense a drastic drop of chakra from that area. _'Someone must be injured…'_, she speculated. She was still in Fire country, maybe she should just look at it, just in case it was a Leaf ninja.

'_Not…_' she thought.

At her foot, by a tree, was a weird looking ninja, staring straight at her, not moving an inch. '_Paralyzed_', she examined inwardly. He had blue hair and the weirdest teeth she had ever seen.

'_Blue hair and sharp tooth…not your common do-gooders ninja. Maybe he's up to no good. Maybe I should just let him die…_' she thought. She shrugged that thought off as her kunoichi side wore off and her medic side kicked in. She looked at his dilated eyes and his rash-covered skin. '_Poisoned. Must be something he ate…'_

She looked at his hands and saw that he was still holding a couple of berries. She brought the berries to her nose and took a small bite. Her mouth felt tingly. Small doses shouldn't be lethal, but…

"How many of these did you eat?!?!?!" she asked him, expecting no reply from the paralyzed guy.

The pink-haired medic rolled her sleeves. "I don't know who you are or what you are doing in this area, but I'm going to help you, so you better not harm me after I extract this goddamn poison from your body," she snapped.

The man made no sound or movement.

Sakura began pouring her chakra in and tying it around the each drop of the poison. "You just did a stupid thing, you know. A stupid thing that could have cost you your life. The berries you ate are belladonnas. Majorly poisonous," she said.

It seemed like Sakura's encounter with him was timely, as the poison had not spread very far. It wasn't a hard task for Sakura to do now. '_It was when I was fifteen_,' she thought, remembering the time she'd extracted the poison from Kankuro.

When she saw a slight smirk adorning the guy's face, she stopped her extraction and decided to leave a non-lethal amount of poison in his body. Non-lethal, but the guy might be slightly unbalanced in the next 48 hours.

"A handful," he suddenly said.

"What?"

"Your question, before. I ate a handful of those."

"Not a wise thing to do," she said while she helped him sit up.

"Thanks, huh," he smiled.

"No problem. I should get going…"

"Wait… haven't even got your name yet. Looking way too pretty to be a ninja, but that's mad skills you've got there, Pinky," he praised.

"Thanks, what about you? Why are you in Fire Country?"

"I'm Suigetsu. Just crossing the big land… I'm heading over River Country to meet with my mates," he said, stretching his arms above his head.

Sakura's eyes lit, not sure how she felt about that information. There was no point in keeping her destination a secret as he was obviously going to be on the same route with her. Plus, he looked young and harmless. The harmless part was due to the fact that she had left a non-lethal dose of poison in his system.

"You haven't answered my question there, Pinky. What's your name, or do you prefer me calling you Pinky all the time?"

She hated being called Pinky. It was as if she was being categorized as being both girly and bimbotic. It was better than giving him her real identity, though. She had no option.

Sakura smiled ineptly. "I don't mind, people call me that all the time," she lied, "and yeah, I'm heading somewhere near River country, as well."

He stood up. "Great, huh! We can be travel companions. Boy, hate traveling alone!" he exclaimed. "So, you a ninja?"

Sakura sighed. This was when her elaborative lies were most useful.

So as soon as they started walking, Sakura started her chain of lies. "Not a ninja per say, but I do learn the art of healing in my small village on the north-west side of Fire country," she lied confidently.

"Konohagakure?"

"No, no, I'm from the Ember Village, Moesashigakure" Sakura quickly made up a village name.

"Ahhh….I see," he leered, before leaning dangerously to his left and falling on his side.

"Careful! I'm not an expert in extracting poison," Sakura lied, "there must still be some left in your body, making you quite lopsided."

"Damn berries. I was there, picking up this charm," he said, dangling a little jade seahorse in front of her eyes. "For my sword."

"And where exactly is your sword?"

"My mates have it. Charm is pretty important—bastards put it in tricky places," he snickered, "nothing Suigetsu can't handle. But can't bring my sword."

Sakura was curious about what sort of sword this weird Suigetsu guy had, but she didn't want to press further. "So, where did you found the belladonnas? It isn't native to Fire or any country around Fire, you know."

"Grew around the place I found the charm. Bastards wanted robbers dead, I guess."

"Huh…," Sakura replied.

The two chatted along the way, with Sakura growing fonder of Suigetsu. He was quite a chatty person, reminding her of her best friend Naruto. Suigetsu talked mostly about food and animals.

He, surprisingly despite his slightly dubious appearance, showed a genuine care towards animals, occasionally letting birds alight on his fingers and picking up stray squirrels to gently rub them.

After a while, Sakura got curious about his 'mates.' He never mentioned them thoroughly; she thought that maybe he wanted to keep it as a secret.

"So, these mates of yours…kind enough to guard your sword while you go on a little quest, don't you think? Childhood friends?"

"Nah, just a couple people gathering up. Outta needs, I guess."

"Right. What's in it for you?"

"Just some action, and to meet pretty healers like you, Pinky," he winked. The gesture made him lose balance and he fell on his right knee.

"Careful there. So what's in it for them?" Sakura slowly pressed. It was quite worrying, an unknown band of ninja looking for some action with one team member looking quite capable even in the paralyzed state, roaming around Fire country. Sakura definitely needed the info to pass on to her mentor. Background check and all.

"One of my mates, this guy, quite the scare, I think. He's all brooding with revenge," Suigetsu said casually. Sakura raised her eyebrows '_Revenge? How familiar…Meh, couldn't be_,' she shrugged.

"Me and two others are just helping. I'm in for the action, this girl is in for Mr. Broody," he scoffed.

"Bloody annoying," he spat.

"Ah, I know a similar Mr. Broody, always have girls chasing over him," Sakura said, a hint of nostalgia in her voice.

"You one of the girls, Pinky?"

"Was. I was twelve and stupid. Incredibly stupid," Sakura replied.

"What happen to your Mr. Broody?"

"Oh, he got crazy," Sakura motioned with her hand, "major psycho crazy. Good thing I grew out of that stupid crush. I can now just look back and laugh."

"Wow, lucky. It's for the better, Pinky. _I _can tell you that," he said pointedly.

"Yeah? It happened to you, unrequited love?"

"Not so much love," he scoffed, "more like a little bit of crush and a lot of lust."

He went quiet and continued the journey in a comfortable silence. After sharing a loaf of bread Sakura had in her pack and a few rests, Sakura realized that they were getting closer to the River Country_. 'Probably best if I split up now,'_ she considered.

Before she could even open her mouth, Suigetsu beat her to it. "Oh look, there's my mates!" he said, pointing at two incredibly suspicious looking ninjas by the side of a small spring, a red haired woman with glasses and a giant burly looking guy. The guy was kneeling down by something.

"No," Suigetsu mouthed and ran towards his companions.

Sakura narrowed her eyes to look at a big sword perched on the side of a rock. Her eyes widened with realization as her mind traveled back in time to figure out who it used to belong. '_Zabuza…'_

"Oi, Pinky! Can you give us a hand?!" Suigetsu shouted from a far. He and his two other companions were crowding over something…or someone.

Sakura hesitated a bit, figuring that this band of ninja was probably up to nothing good if they had stolen a sword from someone's grave. But refusing to help and run would raise more suspicion. More troublesome, too, so Sakura slowly walked towards them.

"Who's this?" spat the red-haired kunoichi, arms on her hips.

"She's a healer, bitch! Shut up and be fucking nice," Suigetsu snapped.

The red-haired kunoichi moved aside, allowing Sakura to get access to the person lying on the…

'_Sasuke.'_

There was no _'I knew that hair'_ or _'I recognized that sword'_ or '_Ah..that face_.' There was no speculation for Sakura. It was immediate and instant. It was like Sasuke's face had been eternally etched in all corners of Sakura's mind, no matter how hard she'd tried to forget about the damn bastard.

Her throat went dry instantly as her foot stay rooted to the ground. She didn't know what to do or how to act.

The last time she'd met Sasuke, she was so sure that he was going to slice her to smithereens. And so, if Sasuke ever woke up from whatever had put him in his vegetable state he was currently in, there was the possibility of Sakura having to fight Sasuke and his three companions.

Great. _'Incredibly stupid, next time __**really**__… don't talk to strangers,'_ she cursed herself.

After a quick yet thorough internal debate, Sakura decided to do what she would definitely regret later. She figured if she could heal a stranger like Suigetsu ('_mistake number one,'_ said her inner self), morally she should be able to heal a former teammate ('_Who went rogue! Mistake number two!_')

"Yo, Pinky!" Suigetsu waved his hands in front of her face.

Start this on a new line. Sakura took a deep breath. "I'm here." She briskly walked closer and knelt down next to Sasuke's head. "Give me some time and space."

***

Sasuke was engulfed in darkness. He couldn't really recall what had brought him here, but he could feel the traces of what he'd done though the pain in his eyes. It felt hot, dry, and drained.

Sasuke wasn't sure if he was really out, or if he was only dreaming, because suddenly he felt an all too familiar chakra coming through the sides of his head.

The chakra was soothing and relaxing. He could feel it covering and almost massaging the tired nerves and muscles around his eyes. The chakra softly gave life back to his tired eyes. It moved around his head smoothly, taking care not to hurt other parts in his head. It was definitely unlike Kabuto's healing chakra which sharply poked around the insides of his body. This chakra was so tender and… _loving_.

The chakra then slowly moved to the back of his head. It calmed him and slowly uncurled him from this uncomfortable knot on his head. For once, he wanted to lean in and give in to a healing chakra. This one was just too familiar, comfortable and safe.

And then slowly, the chakra retreated. Sasuke quickly opened his eyes and found three pairs of curious eyes staring at him.

He quickly sat up, ignoring the tingling rush of blood to his brain. Resting his right hand on his knee, he proceeded to ask them, "Where is she?"

The trio looked at each other back and forth, murmuring incoherent words, not knowing how to answer.

Uchiha Sasuke was not happy with the lack of answer he was given by his companions. He demanded a reply.

"I _said,_ where IS SHE?"

***

Until next time :)


	2. We All Grew Up

Disclaimer: I do not own friggin Naruto. Belongs to Mr Kishimoto.

* * *

**Chapter 2: We All Grew Up**

Sasuke stood up and grabbed Suigetsu by his neck, slamming him on to the nearest tree.

"If you can't answer my first question, then answer me this… who _is_ she?" he tightened his hold on the blue haired men's neck, showing absolutely no emotion.

Suigetsu knew that there was no messing with him when he was pissed. He really didn't want Sasuke to use his Sharingan on him. He really didn't understand why Sasuke couldn't accept his fumbling "I don't know, she left" answer.

"Pink…"Suigetsu coughs, "ky, I called her Pinky"

Sasuke loosened his grip and brought his hands down. "Never," he stared coldly at Suigetsu and to the rest of the group, "…_never_ bring an outsider to heal me."

"I told you that but you wouldn't listen to me, you slime," Karin murmured, glancing sidelong to her blue haired team mate.

"Sorry man, she was just real good with the healing…" Suigetsu rubbed his neck, "…hey how did you know it was a she?"

"I can tell. Which is exactly why _you_ need to tell me who is she exactly, what she looks like and how she got here," Sasuke said.

"She didn't tell me her name, she just told me to call her Pinky…"

"Why?" Sasuke interrupted.

"Well, she had pink hair," Suigetsu replied. Sasuke froze. '_There really aren't that many people with pink hair around.'_ "She was tiny, about this high," Suigetsu motioned with his hands, "tiny, but perky. Really nice body, yeah"

Sasuke glared at him.

"What? She was a hottie!"

Suigetsu continued describing this unknown pink haired woman, while Sasuke was trying to convince himself that women with pink hair weren't uncommon. That even though the chakra that flowed through his body was so comfortably familiar, there must be other possibilities.

It could not be Sakura. It should not be Sakura.

Sasuke was sure that the healing jutsu wasn't advanced but he knew for a fact that the skill and execution was sophisticated and flawless.

'_Sakura wouldn't be able to do that, now would she?_' he thought, imagining his old pink haired green-eyed teammate.

"She had big green eyes. Real pretty," Suigetsu added while Sasuke held back a choke.

"Green eyes?"

"Yeah, after months of looking at that wench," he glared at the direction of Karin, "…Pinky was a sight to behold."

"Why you little…"

"Shut it Karin. Where did you meet her Suigetsu?" Sasuke pressed as he gratefully nodded at Juugo for restraining Karin from unleashing her rage towards Suigetsu.

"Somewhere in Fire country. Got poisoned and she kinda saved my life. She said that she was heading somewhere near River Country."

"What for?" Karin interrupted.

"I don't know, she didn't tell me," Suigetsu shrugged.

"You idiot! That's very important. River Country is swarming with Akatsuki members, right now. Going there is almost like suicide if you don't have specific goals!" Karin shrieked, exasperated.

"She's got a point," Juugo added, coming out of his silence.

"Geez, chill out will you…"

"What do you mean chill out? You forgot to ask the most important question to an unknown girl who might work her mojo on my Sasuke-kun's head… with your permission, no less!"

"Hey, hey…I got distracted okay," Suigetsu put both of his arms up in defense, "she was really _really_ pretty."

"Well, at least do you know where she came from?" Juugo asked calmly.

"Yeah, she said that she was from a village north of Konoha. Moesashigakure or something," he replied.

Sasuke's eyes narrowed, "there is no such place as Moesashigakure, Suigetsu." He walked, took his sword and picked up his black haori from the ground.

His first guess had been right. It _was _Sakura.

"We're leaving."

"What? Sasuke?! That girl told us to let you rest!" Suigetsu said

Sasuke ignored him and ordered, "Karin, I want you to track her chakra."

"Sasuke-kun, why are we tracking her down when we are_ so_ close to Itachi?"

'_That's precisely why,'_ he answered silently and walked ahead of his companions.

The last time he and Sakura met he had probably scared her off and yet she was still willing to heal him. She was, after all, still that love struck girl he left on the bench years ago.

Sasuke smirked at that thought.

'_With those skills, she's good asset to have,_' he justified, '_it's also too troublesome if she reports back to Konoha, they'd send a team to capture me and I'm so close to getting Itachi.'_

But really inside, he knew that when it comes to Sakura, the first thing that comes to mind was '_Protect_'. It was a habit. No matter how far apart they are now or how different their principles and goals have changed into, he felt the need to protect her, especially with Itachi nearby.

He's not ready to accept that out loud yet, but he'd grown mature enough to allow a tiny part of him admit that, to himself at least.

***

She was exhausted. Right after she left Sasuke and his companions, she had been trying to get them off her by running sporadically and leaving several decoys. A run in with Sasuke on a 'save-Itachi' mission was a major number one _don't_. After running for hours and hours, she finally got to her destination. '_A teahouse in the border of Fire and River country_', she recalled her mentor's instruction.

Now the question is '_which teahouse_?'

There are hundreds of teahouses lined up in the border of Fire and River country. The border looks like a traveler's resting area with teahouses, small inns and bars all busy with customers.

Initially, Sakura thought of searching each teahouse one by one but after finding no luck in the seventh teahouse that she went into, she decided that the method was time consuming and she could not waste even one more minute.

'I've got to try this,' she thought as her hands move rapidly to create fifteen hand seals. She took a step back and did a thorough scan of the whole area. She soon located something interesting, something she had been looking for, in a rundown looking teahouse. She couldn't read the words out of the torn banner, but she guessed that it was 'Tea and Dango'.

She entered the teahouse, wind bells jingling as she stepped into the premise. The teahouse looked like it's been deserted for a long time. There was no one but a dark hooded figure, sipping tea in the rundown teahouse. She walked over to a table near the window and immediately sat down in front of a man, hood covering all of his face.

"My name is Sakura and I know you're sick," Sakura said, trying to be as bold as she can. Even though she had a letter guaranteed by the third Hokage that Itachi is fighting with her on the same side, she can't deny that the unpleasant possibility of him killing her on the spot still crossed her mind.

"You're very brave, little girl," the man said, looking up from below his hood. Sakura was soon met with a pair of red and black eyes.

She gulped, _'well at least your jutsu worked and you found him…score.'_

"I have a message from the third"

"Tell me, how did you find me?"

Sakura pursed her lips. Itachi was wasting her time, hell he was wasting his own time. So she took a deep breath and with all the courage in the world she blurted,"Uchiha Itachi,Idon'thavetimetoplaymindgameswithyourightnowcan youjustpleaselistentome"

The man in front of her wasn't surprised nor was he scared. Instead he changed his position and sat sideways, allowing his back to rest on the wall near the window.

"You are _his _friend."

Sakura was startled until she knew who he meant by 'his'. She shook his head. "_Were_," she corrected him, "Itachi we have no time, I have a message from the third."

Itachi looked at her, eyes cold as ice, "The third is dead."

"I know that, but he left…"

"Tell me, little girl, what makes you think that you are not trapped in my genjutsu. What makes you think that I won't kill you right here, right now?" he mocked.

Sakura was getting exasperated at this moment. Obviously, innuendos weren't going to be the way out if she wanted to get Itachi's trust. So, she looked at him in the eye, proving that she wasn't in any way scared of his Sharingan.

"I know everything, Itachi. We found a box that belongs to the Sandaime and he wrote everything on a scroll. We know the truth. We know that you love the village and that you acted on council's orders…"

"It doesn't mean that I didn't enjoy doing it," he cut her as he took a sip of his tea, his expression remain stoic.

Sakura stare at him in utter disbelief. "Yeah? If you really enjoy killing your family why let Sasuke live?"

Itachi's eyes suddenly flashed with anger, "Foolish little girl."

"Why is it so hard for you to believe me? Tsunade-sama sent me after reading Sandaime's scroll!" Sakura searched her pack for the two scrolls.

"Konoha wouldn't send a genin after me. So, tell me… who sent you? My little brother?"

Sakura gasped in anger, "A GENIN?!?!"

Before she was irritated and a little bit annoyed. But now, she was completely pissed off. While she knew that the man sitting in front of her probably has very little chakra, she couldn't dismiss the fact that he was an S-rank missing nin, present in bingo books of all hidden villages. Uchiha Itachi had become sort of an urban legend to her ever since she knew of his existence.

'_Oh Fuck it…' _

Sakura slammed her chakra-infested fist on to the sides of Uchiha Itachi's face before he even had the chance to consider an eye blink.

"Oops," she said as she watched Itachi's body dropping on to the floor.

Okay, certainly something must be wrong when her single punch just floored the great Uchiha Itachi. She quickly hurried to his side, thinking that this is the best time to do a quick examination on him.

Sakura formed a number of seals before she softly pressed her right palm on to Itachi's temple. She allowed her chakra to disperse into his system and before it came back to her with a vision of what Itachi had.

'_This is bad.'_

She then let her hands slide to both sides of Itachi's temple, slowly reviving him from whatever minor concussion he had from being the receiving end of her fist.

Itachi's face really reminded her of Sasuke. Especially since she just did the exact same thing to Sasuke earlier in the afternoon. She furrowed her brow, _'it's like I'm the personal nurse for the Uchiha clan. Gah.'_

"Get your hands off me"

"Fuck!" She immediately withdrew her hands from his head.

Sakura was so concentrated on her thoughts that she almost jumped out of her skin when Uchiha Itachi suddenly opened his eyes. She stood up and took several steps back, away from him. It seems like her healing had also helped him restored his chakra a little bit.

Itachi rubbed his left jaw with his thumb. "I could really kill you now."

Oh boy, he looked pissed!

"Now look, you have to let me tell you everything first before you jump into any conclu…"

"See, I don't think Konoha is stupid enough to send someone who almost dislocate my jaw for an important matter like this. Tell me who sent you?"

"Goddamit… Tsunade-sama sent me! I'm her apprentice!"

The Sharingan wielder rubbed his temple, "Nonsense. Tell me, how do you wish to die? Ever heard of the Tsukuyomi?"

"You can't use your Sharingan," she scoffed.

"Really? How so?" he taunted as he walked forward towards her.

Taking one step at a time towards the exit, Sakura gather any remnants of courage and bravery she had left.

"Because…because I know that right know, you are ill…terminally ill! That's because you have been ignoring that brain tumor growing in your occipital lobe, which really disrupts your use of the Sharingan. Now tell me, are you planning on letting me treat your tumor, or are you planning on keeping it and giving it a name?"

Uchiha Itachi stopped at his tracks. _'She's good. She must be her apprentice_.'

He smirked, "Danzou."

"What?!"

"I'm calling it Danzou."

Sakura rolled her eyes, "Well then, let me get rid of Danzou for you." She took a hesitant step forward and she glanced at Itachi, "Do you trust me now? No more mind games?"

Itachi stared at her, almost sincerely. "No more."

Sakura sighed as she walked towards him and handed him the two scrolls that Tsunade gave her. "After you read this, I'll heal you and tell you everything else you need to know."

Itachi took the scrolls from her and read it, three times. When he was finally finished, he looked at her and said, "I'm listening".

And so the pink haired medic informed him of all the advancement in the world of medical ninjutsu. She advised him of other options and told him to not make any rash decisions.

"I'm not sure Sakura, I can't risk the chances. I prefer to do it the traditional way."

"You mean SUICIDE? _That's _your solution?"

Itachi didn't reply.

"And I really have to take you back to Konoha where I can give you the full and proper treatment. The only thing I can do for you here is to alleviate the pain and delay the spread of the cancer!"

"Do whatever you want, but I have to reject that other offer."

"But-"

"This is my destiny."

'_Uchihas are such drama queen_,' she silently mocked.

"Whatever, I'll just do something with that Danzou of yours first," she said while signaling him to lie on one of the tables. Sakura had to think of another way to charm him into coming back to Konoha with her. And if he refused, she would have to use force, in which Kakashi, Naruto and Sai would be much needed.

A few hours of trying to heal Itachi, Sakura felt extremely exhausted and there was nothing else that she can do. "Okay, this is all I can do for now. Your Sharingan is only up to its 75% ability now so I-" Sakura turned her body around to see Itachi's Sharingan flashing at her. Soon, her world went dark.

Itachi caught her limp body before it hit the floor. He picked her up and laid her down on one of the tables.

"Thank you for your concern, but I have to do this my way."

***

Haruno Sakura woke up with a searing headache. _'What the fuck did he do to me? Touche I guess,_' she said, gripping her head.

It's nighttime already, moonlight shining through the window near her. She stood up, looked around and furrowed her brows, vision still blurry from being unconscious. _'Shit…he's gone.'_

Sakura ran haphazardly towards the teahouse's door. She slid it open quickly before crashing into the strong chest of another person.

"Sorry," she murmured as she tilted her head up to look at the person in her way, instead, her gaze was met with a different pair of familiar flashing Sharingan eyes.

"Shit." She said before her world went dark…_again_.

Uchiha Sasuke smirked as she caught the upper body of his former teammate with just his left arm. Lowering his right arm to carry her legs, Sasuke briefly noticed the significant shortness of her yukata.

Keeping a stoic exterior, he ordered: "Let's move guys," walking ahead of his confused companions.

The group finally reached the small clearing near the waterfall where they had been before. Sasuke laid Sakura on the ground. Noticing the shortness of her clothing, Sasuke took off his haori and covered her legs with it.

"Hey Sasuke! Why are we keeping her?" Suigetsu shouted from afar.

Sasuke didn't respond.

"Sasuke-kun," Karin called, blushing slightly at the sight of Sasuke's bare torso, "I told you that Itachi had been there before we got to the teahouse, right? I could feel his chakra. Is that why you brought her here? Are you planning on asking some questions from her? Is she our captive?"

Sasuke's eyes flashed dangerously at her, "She's not our captive."

He then walked over to nearest rock and sat on it, one elbow perched on his right knee. His companions recognized it as his 'thinking' position.

Sasuke really didn't know what to do. On one hand, he could choose to not care and leave her here. On the other hand, he was growing to be more and more curious of her. He wanted to know how she became so skilful in medicine and why was she in river country, especially if what she was doing had anything to do with Itachi.

But most of all, he had to admit…he just wanted to see her. Ever since he felt her comforting chakra, he couldn't deny that he wanted to keep having that feeling a little while longer.

'_Irony,_' he scoffed silently. There he was, the all-powerful Uchiha Sasuke, who in order to become powerful, had bravely broken all bonds and all ties with people who cared for him.

'_Bonds make you weak'_. He remembered spitting out those hateful words in front of Naruto's angry face.

And now, he was here. Glancing sideways to see the face of his former teammate, he realized that after years being on the run, he was finally yearning for the soothing comfort from someone who reminded him of a place he once called home.

Sasuke was always at Itachi's heels, chasing after one wrong lead to another. Everything in the past year suddenly became a blur to him, his new team mates became nothing but living tools and that burst of chakra that he felt took all his secret pain and loneliness away. It reminded him of home and it made him feel alive

'_It's only normal_,' he justified inwardly.

He didn't want to admit it at first, but after seeing that familiar dazzling green eyes looking up at him, his resolve was absolute.

He had to keep Sakura with him. For now, at least.

His train of thoughts was stopped momentarily when he saw Juugo gathering up pieces of woods to make fire. He could see Suigetsu busy catching fishes from the waterfall nearby. And Karin?

'Ugh, she's at it again…' he thought.

Since the first night they came to the small clearing, Karin had been trying to catch Sasuke's attention while she was bathing in a secluded spot behind the waterfall. Right now she was singing a song, trying hard to make her voice sounded sexy.

"That wench thinks she's some siren," Suigetsu said when he walked out of the waterfall, dumping his catches on the ground, "Oh hey, Pinky's up!"

Sasuke's eyes widened. He turned his body around to meet the angry stare of his former teammate, now sitting against a tree, clutching her head in pain.

"Sakura,"

"Sasuke," she replied hotly, trying so hard not to be distracted by the sight of Sasuke's very very naked torso. She was going to be angry at him and nothing, not even Sasuke's lean and toned body could prevent that.

A surprised Suigetsu stepped between them, "Whoa, you two _know_ each other?"

"What's going on?" Juugo followed.

"Uchiha Sasuke, how dare you! After I healed you from your overuse of that Sharingan, you're still horrible enough to hypnotize me and give me this unbelievable head ache?!?! What are you doing and who the _fuck _is singing?!?"

There were many things that Sasuke didn't expect from their first exchange after years of not seeing her. First, she had omitted his suffix from his name. He was no longer her 'Sasuke-kun'. Second, not only that she was angry, but she also wasn't scared. Not the least bit. She was fiery and full of spirit. Nothing close to that annoying love-struck girl he left on the cold bench years ago.

Sasuke only glared at her and said, "You're helping him cook," he motioned at Juugo before walking away. Sakura stood up and followed him.

"WHAT?! Have you absolutely no manners? You knock me out and now you're expecting for me to cook?"

He didn't reply.

Suigetsu once again tried stepping in between them. "Getting a little bit confused her-"

"Sakura was my teammate," he cut him.

"_Was _being the operative word here, huh?" Sakura retorted fervently.

"But Suigetsu told us you're not a ninja," Juugo said. Sakura glanced at Suigetsu, "I lied, sorry."

Suigetsu shrugged and raised both arms in a 'don't care' gesture.

"Sasuke, I'm leaving."

"No," Sasuke turned, immediately grabbing her arm. "Don't leave," he warned, "or else…"

Sakura yanked her arm from his grip. "Or what? You'll kill me? Go ahead and try."

She turned around and began walking away from him when he suddenly appeared in front of her. "Don't leave," he ordered. She instantly knew that it was his bunshin, so she pulled a kunai hidden in her sleeves and slashed the bunshin diagonally before it went '_Poof_'.

"Sasuke, I really don't want to fight," she said, arms on her hips. From the corner of her eyes, she could see Suigetsu and the other guy moving to the side, as if giving them room for a duel.

"Then don't leave," she heard him say.

Sakura needed to find Itachi, fast. A game of cat and mouse with Sasuke was certainly not going to help. "I'm leaving," she said, but before she could walk any further she could feel a shuriken being thrown at her direction. She dodged it and it ended up hitting a tree in front of her.

'Fine,' she thought. She then formed several hand seals discreetly, not wanting to let Sasuke copy it with his goddamned Sharingan. She performed a smaller scale version of the jutsu she used when locating Itachi. Sensing several thermal body heat, Sakura soon discovered that Sasuke had put many bunshin hiding around the forest, but the real him was hiding behind a big rock formation, just west from where Sakura was standing.

As she walked towards the rock formation, several fake Sasukes came out to attack her. She ducked from being hit by a bunshin and gave the bunshin a good uppercut. Sakura kneed the groin of the second bunshin, while wishing that it had been the real Sasuke. Another blew out a fire jutsu and she had to cart wheeled backwards to avoid it. To her advantage, she had cart wheeled her way to the rock formations and without a second thought, she gave the huge rock formation a powerful sidekick.

The rock formation was destroyed in an instant. It made a rumbling sound as it was destroyed into pieces, revealing the person hiding behind it. There was Sasuke, clearly not anticipating for Sakura to destroy the rock with a single kick, crouched on the ground, looking absolutely blanked out.

"Pinky is on fire!" Suigetsu commented from the sidelines.

"Her taijutsu skills are amazing and I've never seen anyone else have such amazing chakra control," Juugo added, stunned

Sasuke quickly stood up and drew his sword. Walking over to where Sakura was, he raised his sword and attacked her with a movement that would slash her diagonally had she not jumped up. She landed on the tip of Sasuke's kusanagi and slide forward to give him a kick on his face, which made him, flew several feet behind.

Sakura noticed that even thought Sasuke kept on attacking her, she couldn't feel any malicious intent coming from him, unlike their last encounter. It was as if he was testing her. '_Was he?'_

She saw Sasuke got up and all of a sudden she could feel intense pain coming from her left shoulder. "OUCH!" She looked up and saw Sasuke holding the end of the sword, which he drove through her shoulder. Malicious intent or not, Sasuke was still a formidable fighter with incredible speed.

The pink haired medic began healing her sword injury from inside. "Bastard," she growled at him. And then she saw the look in Sasuke's eyes. Something was different. He was trying to conceal it, but behind his stoic exterior, she could see fear and solitude in his eyes.

"Don't go," he said. This time it didn't sound like an order. It sounded like he was pleading for her to stay. She looked at him and once more and said, "Whatever, get your sword off my shoulder."

She yelped in pain as Sasuke roughly pull his Kusanagi out of Sakura's shoulder. "Heal yourself," he said as he walked away, feeling all sorts of confusion. This never happened to him before, he was never left with this new feeling inside him after a fight. Guilt. As he was walking away, he couldn't help but replaying that look of surprised and shock in Sakura's green eyes as he drove his Kusanagi in to her shoulder.

Sakura sat down and concentrated on letting her chakra lessen the damage on the ripped tissues in her shoulder. She thanked heavens that Sasuke didn't twist his blade while it was still inside her, or the healing process would take longer and consume more chakra. Because after everything that happened today, she was exhausted and she wanted a good peaceful sleep, wherever she can get.

"Here," Sasuke said, suddenly appeared, crouching in front of her carrying a wooden basin full of water. 'Thanks," Sakura replied, averting her eyes from meeting his.

"What do you want from me, Sasuke?" she asked, taking out clean cloths from her medical kit.

"Just Sasuke, now?"

She looked at him and paused. "Yeah! You are lucky that I still call you with your name and not by something else," she spat, "Now tell me, what is it that you possibly want from me?"

"Who taught you all this?"

Sakura laughed cynically, "So this is it? You're just going to answer my question with another question?"

"Who taught you Sakura?"

"Tsunade-sama taught me, okay? I've been training as a medic nin ever since your stinking ass left Konoha. I'm skilled in medical combat and emergency skills and I'm also one of the few expert in the area of the nervous system in Konoha," she said. She couldn't help but be a little smug in front of this particular former teammate of hers.

Sakura wiped the blood coming out from her wound with her cloth and squeezed the cloth before drenching it in water to make it clean again. "Now, tell me. What do you want from me?"

"Be our medic."

"Sure," Sakura answered sarcastically, "as soon as you and your friends filled those Konoha citizenship registration form. Oh you haven't? Too bad. NO"

Sakura felt bad for refusing him. And now she felt stupid for feeling bad. The pink haired medic began strategizing a plan in her mind. If she were to escape from Sasuke and his companions, it wouldn't be without a fight. Three unknown ninjas and one Sharingan user against one injured and exhausted medic.

She sighed. The odds were definitely against her.

Suddenly, an idea formed in her head. Maybe somehow, she can convince Sasuke to not kill Itachi. She would have to tell him the whole story, but not now. She had to wait. She had to get through to him and maybe... just maybe.. she might be able to save not one, but two Uchiha.

***

Sakura woke up with a slight wince from the pain. She could feel wetness from seeping through from her bandages. She needed to change them.

"I thought you're a good medic," she heard someone said.

It was the nosy red haired girl standing in front of her. "Huh?" she replied, not completely awake.

"If you're a good medic, surely you can stop something as simple as a bleeding?" she taunted, "and not get my Sasuke-kun's haori all stained with blood."

"What? Sasuke's wha—" Her words stop mid-air when she felt an unfamiliar garment covering her. She realized that Sasuke must have covered her with it while she was sleeping. She tucked a few strain of her pink hair behind her ear and explained, "I was out of chakra last night."

"Pffft, a small fight with Sasuke-kun and you are already out of chakra? Some kind of ninja you are," she said as she left her.

'_No, I drained my chakra from healing a terminally ill S-rank ninja you bitch_,' she cursed her silently.

"Don't mind her. Karin's always like that," said a voice from her left. She glanced sideways and saw that it was the big guy talking to her.

"My name is Juugo, it's a pleasant honor to watch you fight yesterday," he said sincerely, sitting next to her.

Sakura was surprised to see how genuine his compliment was. Unlike his other teammates, Sakura didn't expect to meet anyone decent in Sasuke's team. "Oh, thank you," she replied.

"Here," Juugo said, giving her a wooden basin full of water, "Sasuke told me to give this to you."

"Thanks," Sakura smiled at him appreciatively.

"I don't know about your history, but you must be important for him. I can tell," he said.

"Yeah," Sakura raised her eyebrows sarcastically, "he needs a medic. I'm a medic. Hence I'm important."

Juugo shook his head, "No, I don't mean it in that way. You see, I seldom interact with my companion. I watch and observe. He acts differently around you."

"Oh yeah? That's because he hates me, Juugo. To him, I'm this annoying girl who's always in his ways. I wish he realized that I'm no longer 12."

Juugo laughed, "I think you've proven your point last night, Sakura!"

"What do you mean? He impaled me with his sword! Which reminds me…" Sakura checked her bandage, now dripping with her blood.

"Do you need any help?" Juugo asked, politely.

"No, I'm good. Thanks"

"Do you mind if I watch? It's fascinating."

Sakura merely nodded. She unfolded the wet bandage from her shoulder and wiped the blood off her body. Now that she's all rested, Sakura was determined to use her chakra and heal herself.

Juugo watched intently as the pink haired medic exerted a calming green glow on to her own shoulders. "All patched up," she exclaimed happily in less than two minutes.

"That's it?" Juugo asked, curious as to how quick the procedure went.

"Yeah. It's just a minor injury. My arm's going to be just a little bit sore, but nothing I can't handle. All the ripped skin, muscle and tissues is healed," she said.

"That's amazing," he shook his head with disbelief, "oh, Sasuke also wanted me to tell you that if you want to wash up, you can do it in a spot behind the waterfall. It's quite secluded."

Sakura thanked him and went for the waterfall. All that walking, running and fighting from yesterday made her feel dirty and she didn't want to start smelling pungent.

She circled the clearing so she can get closer to the waterfall. She hiked her yukata up so it wouldn't get wet and slip into the gap between the waterfall and the rock and soon found herself inside a cozy well-lit cave. After she discarded her clothing, she began lathering herself with her handy fresh scented shampoo and soap. She then continued with washing her green yukata, especially the bloodstain in the left sleeve.

Suddenly, she sensed that someone was out there, on the other side of the waterfall, and from this particular chakra, she had a pretty good guess as to who it might be. "Is that why you want me to stay? So you can peek at me while I'm bathing?"

She heard him grunted. "No. Don't flatter yourself"

'_That bastard…'_

"I'm making sure you're not trying to escape," he continued.

Sakura rolled her eyes.

"So tell me Sasuke," she said as she laid her yukata down on a flat stone, letting it dry. "How's life? Better since you left us for those interesting companions of yours?"

He didn't answer, so she continued. "I'm guessing no, huh? So it's been how many years since you started tracking Itachi on your own with no success?"

"We've made progress," he replied.

"Really??" she said sarcastically, "had you stayed in Konoha, you would have made better progress. For instance, me and Naruto, we didn't need to cross to the other side to get stronger."

"Different people have different destiny."

"And what exactly is your destiny, Sasuke? To kill Itachi and then roam around the world like some homeless ninja?"

"Hn," he grunted.

"Really. People go through the first half of their lives on a quest for revenge, and after that they end up spending the second half of their lives regretting it, Sasuke. They don't have a sense of purpose in this life anymore. Tell me, what are you planning to do after you kill Itachi?"

Sasuke never really had anyone talking back at him in the past years. So this is something rather new to him. He didn't know how to react or respond to this. If she was an enemy ninja, or even Karin, he would have gone behind the waterfall and shut her mouth by killing her. But this was Sakura and he did not want to kill her. Hurting her was hard enough for him, let alone killing her. He wanted her alive.

He needed her alive. He doesn't know why.

Sakura exhaled at Sasuke's lack of reply. She had to get through to him. "Sasuke, why revenge? Killing him, what would you accomplish?"

'_How dare she?_' he immediately thought, veins pulsing angrily at Sakura's audacious question.

"_How_ can you even ask _that _question? HE MURDERED MY FAMILY, SAKURA!" Sasuke screamed, hands punching his side of the cave.

Sakura trembled slightly at hearing Sasuke's angry reaction. "But.. do you know why Sasuke? Don't you want to know why Itachi did it?" she asked softly.

"I DON'T care!" he raged, suddenly appearing in front of her. Sakura, aware of her lack of clothing quickly brought her arm up to cover her chest.

He quickly walked into the cave where Sakura was bathing, his clothes all wet. "You don't know how I feel!" he screamed, gripping both her arms, shaking it back and forth.

To say that she was surprised at his reaction was a big understatement. Clearly, he had been repressing all this emotions through his stoic exterior.

"You don't know how it feels to have your mother, father, aunt, uncle," he said, jaws trembling from anger, "Everyone in your family, viciously slaughtered BY YOUR OWN BROTHER!!!"

Sakura's eyes began to water. Looking at his face, she could see that scared innocent little boy slowly coming out of him. "I'm.. sorry," she mumbled.

Sasuke jerked his hands off Sakura, turning his back on her. "You don't get it do you, Sakura? If I had stayed in Konoha, they would never let me do something like this. Not personally. This won't sit right with their _clean _and all _righteous_ image."

Sakura twitched nervously upon hearing the sentence. She slowly reached her wet green yukata, not wanting her nakedness be the source of awkwardness and delay the 'discussion' they are currently having. She had to get to Sasuke.

"This is something that I need to do. This isn't just some stupid mission. This is my life, Sakura."

Sakura leaned closer to his back. "But your life could mean so much more than just this," she said, slowly caressing his back. She wanted him to know that even though she doesn't see him as her 'Sasuke-kun' anymore, she still cares.

Sasuke, slowly jolted from the touch. He was definitely not used to physical contact. The pink-haired ninja blushed in chagrin at his reaction. '_Maybe not so much with the physical contact…'_

"Instead of just this, your life can mean so much more. Only if you would be open and mature enough to look at the bigger picture, Sasuke."

"I don't want to."

Sakura sighed, "This conversation isn't going anywhere if you're just going to block everything I say, Sasuke."

"Why do you care? I thought you just wanted to leave," he said.

"How can you say I don't care? I healed you didn't I Sasuke? Even _after_ you tried to kill me the last time we met!" she said, tears brimming in her eyes. "I don't know what I'm supposed to do. The last time we met, you were so different, you were like a stranger. But now you're trying to patch things up again with me? What happened Sasuke?"

Sasuke turned to face her, his stoic face twisted in mixed emotions. He then slowly raised his hands to Sakura's face. Sakura, knowing that the only time Sasuke would make physical contact with others is when he intended to kill them, instinctively took a step back. But the pink haired nin had to hold her breath in shock when she slowly felt Sasuke's hands wiping the tears off her face.

She repeated her question, "What…happened?"

Sasuke dropped his hands from her face. He averted his eyes from hers and chose to glance sidelong, staring into nothing.

"I grew up, Sakura."

* * *

Afjbaiwrufj cknajowru9gyfr this is unbetaed :( something really funky is going on with my laptop, I will post a betaed version later. I just can't stand a fic not being updated for so long hehehe :)

Please review review review... love love love

PEACE,

Dusty


	3. Our Own Path

**Spring of Faith**

Chapter 3: Our Own Path

* * *

"We leave tomorrow," she heard him ordered.

The group was still in the clearing. Karin and Suigetsu were busy sparing while Juugo commented from the sidelines. Sakura chose to sit on a rock, facing the sun, drying her clothes and hair. While Sasuke sat on the other side of Sakura's rock …brooding.

After the conversation behind the waterfall, things were awkward between her and Sasuke. She assumed that he must felt a little bit embarrassed for dropping his walls and let emotions get to him and Sakura herself was still feeling a little bit peculiar from their little discussion earlier this morning.

He had been avoiding her all morning and even though Sakura knows that Sasuke just doesn't talk to people, it would be going a little bit to far when he had suddenly stopped barking orders or so much as glaring at her. She was starting to get annoyed. Here she was, agreeing to be their…medic (albeit for her own personal agenda too), yet he treated her like she didn't exist. _''Grew up' my ass. This is just like when we were twelve, but with much critical matter at hand and more annoying teammates'_, she scoffed,

She wandered what he meant when he said that he had 'grew up'. She hoped it meant that Sasuke now took more consideration in other's people's feelings. _'Highly unlikely. Sasuke is more complicated than a freaking rubik's cube'_, she griped in her head.

She took a peek behind at Sasuke who sat facing the other way. His shoulders were stiff and his position was tense. Sakura thought of having a word with him for being so mean to her all morning, but she discarded that idea straight away. Her conscience told her that you can't fight fire with fire.

'_Ok, here goes nothing…'_

"Hey, Sasuke," she called.

"Hn," he replied_. 'Good start…'_ she thought.

"You still remember how Naruto loves ramen?"

"Hn," he said, Sakura can almost felt him rolling his eyes.

"Well, after eating it for years, he suddenly got an allergic reaction for a while. I can't remember what it was, but it might be something Ichiraku Ramen put in their secret broth. His skin would go red and his lips would swell and grew twice the size. It was hilarious!"

Sasuke suddenly drew a mental image of his old loud-mouthed friend with his eyes closed in a straight line and his swollen lips pouting annoyingly

"_Dobe_" he scoffed.

"Aww, what do you mean by that? He is your first kiss, Sasuke," Sakura teased, referring to the kiss that Sasuke and Naruto accidently had on their first day of being genin.

Sasuke grunted in reply.

"Oh and remember how we tried to see Kakashi's face?"

"Yeah."

"Well, Naruto took this obsession to another level," she said, nodding excitedly.

Sasuke turned around slightly and slowly to see the lively pink haired girl. "Continue," he said.

Sakura also turned to face him. "Well, " she said, a devious smile forming in her face, "he used his filthy oiroke no jutsu and tried to make a move on Kakashi. He was hoping that Kakashi would be stupid enough to open his mask to kiss him. But it turns out that Kakashi is not much of a 'kisser', instead, Kakashi grabbed Naruto's fake female boobs and ass."

"Disgusting," Sasuke snorted.

"Naruto could give you a few pointers you know, "she said teasingly, "who knows, his oiroke no jutsu might help you in the future."

"I need no such jutsu," he replied.

"Aww Sasuke, you are the ultimate bore! I would have thought that going away from Konoha and living with such random companions would at least make you the least bit more adventurous!" Sakura laughed.

Sasuke smiled a little as he watched the small beads of water dropping from the tips of her hair, like diamonds sparkling against her bright features. This was the first time for him to notice Sakura differently. She was still the same bright and sassy Sakura. He just never realized how breath-taking Sakura ever was. Her ethereally luscious pink hair, big doe emerald eyes and her pouty pink lips that would ever so often turn into a heart-warming smile.

"Sasuke?"

The nukenin snapped out of his gaze and his face turned serious, a defense mechanism that comes along with the Uchiha gene.

"What"

The pink haired kunoichi shrugged, "For a second there, you just seem quite dazed."

"Sakura," he said in a much more serious tone, "Why are you here, in River?"

"I was on a mission," she said, telling him the truth.

"What mission?"

Initially she wanted to tell him the whole "Sorry Sasuke, can't divulge Konoha's mission to a rogue nin like you". But she knew that telling him that would only piped his interest further.

"Nothing exciting. Was sent to pick up some medicinal herbs and I stopped by the teahouses to look for food. I should have listen to my head and not my tummy. Look where I am right now," she said ingenuously.

Sasuke eyed her, looking for any signs of deceit. But he couldn't find any. She looked so innocent that even if she lied, she probably don't have any malicious intention behind that lie.

She took her stare off Sasuke's eyes and chose to gaze at the lake in front of her. The pink haired medic really didn't know how to make it off this situation. She didn't know whether or not her encounter with Sasuke would help her mission, she didn't know whether or not this would help _her_, personally. She really had gotten over him but as it turns out, the sight of him alone, effectively tugged the insides of her heart.

"A part of me still hates you," she said suddenly, eyes watching the scenery before her, "but I'm glad that I bumped into you."

Sasuke looked at her, seeing the quiet determination in her eyes and silently, he agreed.

***

"Tsunade-sama!!"

The busty blonde inclined her head from her desk of word and found herself looking at a distressed Shizune. "What is it? Are you pregnant?" she asked idly.

"NO!!" Shizune replied in aghast. She walked forward and threw a small scroll on to the Godaime's desk. "We received a bird from Hatake Kakashi, Sakura wasn't at the rendezvous point. She's missing."

Golden eyes skimmed through the scroll as if not wanting to believe any word coming out from Shizune's mouth. Tsunade cursed inwardly. "It would be fair to assume that either she's been kidnapped by an interested party or her meeting with Uchiha Itachi had taken more time."

"What should we do?"

"Send a bird to Hatake Kakashi, tell him to use that tracker dogs of his to track Sakura's scent. Although I'm sure that he's probably using the exact method this very moment. Nevertheless, get Sakura first, solve Uchiha problem after."

Shizune nodded and darted out of the room.

Tsunade kneaded her temple with her fingers. She had more than faith in her talented student. She's a smart girl and a strong kunoichi.

'_You better be allright, Sakura'_

***

Sakura excused herself from the group at night time and told Suigetsu who was taking his turn to watch that she's off doing 'girly' business. It was more than enough to shut the blue man up.

She hurried and found a safe spot near the waterfall. The safest and fastest way for her to contact her mentor right now would be by summoning a division of Katsuyu. This would require highly accurate chakra precision, one little mistake would result in Sakura summoning giant Katsuyu, which would be…undesirable. Quickly and stealthily, the pink haired kunoichi formed seals and whispered "Kuchiyose no jutsu". In a small poof, a tiny blue and white snail appeared.

"Sakura-sama," it bowed with a tiny voice.

"Katsuyu," she whispered in the most calm and collected manner she can be, "I need you to deliver this message to Tsunade-sama. Tell her that first, I have successfully healed him but his mighty stubbornness refuse to accept anymore help," just when she was about to continue her message, she could hear a faint rustle of leaf and a familiar chakra behind her, "Second, tell her not too worry, its taking me a while to find a an ewe in river country but I've already got the medicinal husks she asked. Oh also, please remind her that she needs to look under the tatami for my keys! Send her my love, Katsuyu! Shoo!" she waved her hand with a smile.

"Hai, Sakura-sama," the snail said before it disappeared in a _pop_.

Sakura took a deep breath. Nervous beads of sweat trickled down her temple. "Sasuke!" she greeted the man standing behind her.

"What are you doing, Sakura?" he said in a dangerous tone.

She stood up and faced him. _'Must… not… tremble'_

"Oh I'm just sending a message to my shishou. Really, the last thing you want is her being worried sick for me and send a team of ANBU to look for me, right?"

Sasuke remain stoic.

"Go back to the sleep."

Sakura gave the Uchiha-nin a small smile as she walked past him. "Is it your turn to take watch?"

"Hn." The Uchiha continued to walk behind her.

"Can I stay up with you?"

"I don't need such help or company," he scoffed and walk ahead of her.

Sakura rolled her eyes. "I didn't say it was you who needed the company."

"Do whatever you want."

Sakura followed him to the clearing and saw him already perched up on the big rock they were sitting at earlier that day.

"How do you manage to survive, Sasuke?"

"Survive?"

"Yeah," Sakura beckoned, "survive from living like this?"

"I just do."

Sakura walked over, choosing to sit below Sasuke, leaning over the big rock he was sitting on. "I know, but… don't you want to wake up and have breakfast, go grocery shopping, watch the news, have a good night out with your friend or even watch a porn movie?!"

Sasuke scoffed, "Such trivial things… porn movie?!"

"I don't know," Sakura flailed her arms in the air, "Just things on top of my head."

"Those things don't matter to me until I've completed my goal. We've had this conversation, Sakura." He said flatly.

Sakura exhaled and closed her eyes, relishing in the soft blows of night wind, she tried to relax her mind and think of more ways on coaxing Sasuke to either go back to Konoha or not kill Itachi.

"Yes I know, but it's like you're living the life of a felon!"

Sasuke arched his eyebrows, "Sakura, I am one."

"Well, not technically. According to Konoha's laws, you were a juvenile when you were 'seduced' to leave Konoha. So you're not really 'guilty' and you haven't killed anyone from Konoha."

"True."

"Exactly. Then why can't you just come back to Konoha and track down Itachi from there? We have the force, the information, the support!"

"I must do this alone, Sakura."

"What?!?! You are not doing it alone! You've got three random goons on your side!"

"Being outside Konoha makes me stronger."

"Ewh!" Sakura gasped, "so what, you think us people in Konoha are just a bunch of weaklings? Really I could take your red-headed lover any time I want."

Sasuke clenched his jaws. "She's not my lover."

"Whatever. I could take you down any time I want."

"You want to try?"

Sasuke disappeared from his position in an instant. Sakura groaned in irritation and stood up.

"Fine! If I win, you have to come back to Konoha with me!"

"Deal."

Sakura snapped her head to the right to follow where the voice came from. 'Fine, lets play it your way, Sasuke,' she growled to herself, taking out a pair of black leather gloves from her pocket. As she put on the gloves she could feel a small jolt of pain from her left shoulder from where Sasuke drove his sword into the other day.

She cursed realizing that she was already at a disadvantage.

"You know what really saddens me, Sasuke? It's the fact that you chose to have this group of strangers to help you over your friends. Me and Naruto, we're not even expecting anything in return!" she hollered angrily at the sky.

"It's always power, power and power from you. Bond makes you weak and all that shit. You are such an emotionless greedy bast— OUCH!!" Sakura yelped from the pain of a flying kunai, now embedded into her already injured left shoulder.

'Fuck'

She followed the direction of the Kunai and spotted a shadow jumping fast from a tree. That couldn't be Sasuke, he's to smart for that, meaning that the real Sasuke is…

CRACK

Sakura twisted her body back in time, her chakra-infested roundhouse kick slammed against Sasuke's jaws. Surprisingly, it wasn't a bunshin and Sakura almost yelled an apology, but she refrained from doing so. She wanted to show him that she was dead serious.

Sakura cart wheeled backwards and concentrated her chakra to her foot so she could land smoothly on the lake behind her. If she fought him on water, his number one attacking mechanism—the katon jutsu, wouldn't work as effective.

Sasuke ran towards her, hands sliding his sword out from its sheath as he jumped sky high above Sakura, swords ready to slice her into two. Sakura moved two inches from where she was before and allowed the swords to slice nothing but air. She took out her kunai and defended herself from Sasuke's non-stop sword attacks.

"You," he said in between the clanging of metals, "should just give up."

His swordfight was formidable and with countering his attacks with just a kunai and an injured shoulder, she was losing her focus so she had to get away from this… fast

"NO!"

She quickly gathered chakra inside her body and blew out poisonous mist from her mouth, effectively making Sasuke jumped a few meters back. She reminded herself to thank Shizune for the nifty technique, later.

"Why do you have to be so fucking stubborn? Open your eyes and you'll see the truth in what I'm saying, Sasuke!"

"You talk too much."

Sasuke suddenly appeared behind her, disarming her from her kunai with a flick of his sword. Sakura quickly retaliated by kicking his sword upwards and sending it flying to the clearing.

"Sakura, your shoulder is injured. Give up now." He uttered.

Sasuke knew that Sakura had grown up to be an excellent kunoichi and didn't expect her to just slump down and cried "I'm just a burden" like she used to. But he didn't really expect Sakura to stand in front of him, wide green eyes filled with both determination and compassion, as she shouted, "NO If this is what it takes to make you understand. If this is what it takes to get your ass back to Konoha then I will beat you! I don't care if I die of chakra depletion later, what matters is that I have to beat you first."

She lunged at him in a series of strong hooks and jabs, followed by graceful and deadly butterfly kicks. Sasuke could only defended himself and refrained from attacking, partly because he enjoyed watching Sakura doing her taijutsu moves. It was beautiful and lethal at the same time.

Sasuke could already see the pain and exhaustion coming through Sakura's face and that she was running out of chakra, for her chakra level was already low when they started fighting. Sasuke took the chance to use his Fireball jutsu, making Sakura jumped back in tremble to avoid it.

The pink haired medic lost control of the concentrated chakra on her foot and fell into the water. The pain coming from her previous injury and new kunai wound was stinging into her senses as water washed over it. She quickly counted her chakra use in the day to know why she lost it so… Katsuyu! That's it. It was too late, the combination of sadness, exhaustion, chakra depletion, hope and anger suddenly made her body immobile. She was already swallowing a significant amount of water and she just have to beat Sasuke.

Everything went dark.

Sasuke waited for his former teammate to resurface. He wasn't sure if this was one of her strategies or if she was having some trouble. He tapped his foot against the water impatiently. This was getting annoying. _'Oh fuck it'_ he thought before he dove into the lake to find out.

The Uchiha-nin swam, frantically looking for his pink haired friend. His eyes widened when he finally saw a motionless Sakura at the bottom of the shallow lake, her eyes closed and the water around her covered in red hues. As he looped Sakura's arm around his neck and swim on to the surface, he couldn't help but question his quick impulse and reaction towards Sakura. He knew that if it were Suigetsu or Karin that he was fighting, he would just walk away.

He gasped in a deep breath of air when he finally reached the surface of the lake and held Sakura's limp body using both of his arms.

"Sasuke-kun! What happened?"

It seemed that their little fight had awaken the rest from their slumber. He could see Karin standing up with a look of horror in her face, Suigetsu yawning before he muttered something to Juugo who muttered something back silently.

Sasuke softly deposited Sakura's body on the ground as he pumped her chest with a little bit of his chakra in it. The pink haired girl coughed, spluttering water from her mouth. Sasuke helped her to sit up, propping up her back with his left hand. He could see that her eyes were still unfocused, as if still trying to make out her surroundings.

"Shit," she said, coughing some more, "I want a rematch."

The Sharingan wielder couldn't help but mused silently at her remarks. His former team-mate was definitely a searing spitfire even if the temperature in her body was saying otherwise.

"Can you walk?"

Sakura piled her entire weight for Sasuke to pull her up and when she's finally standing, slightly shivering, she nodded, "Of course I can." She enfolded her hands. rubbed her palms against her biceps and walked over to where the team were sleeping, around a small fire.

She was feeling especially bitter for losing this particular fight with Sasuke. Not only that it means she just lost in her own bet, it also proves Sasuke's point that she and the rest of Konoha was just a bunch of small fries. She ignored Karin's spiteful comments and Suigetsu and Juugo's quizzical stares.

"Sakura-san, I think you better change out of your wet clothing," Juugo advised her reticently. "Or not, looking much better with clothes sticking to your body like that. It accentuates your curves yeah," Suigetsu added.

Absolutely dismayed by Suigetsu's blatant comment, Sakura opened her mouth to told him off but didn't have the chance to voice her disgust when a dry piece of garment suddenly fell on her lap.

"Wear it," Sasuke ordered, sternly.

She looked up at him, perplexed, and looked back at the dark blue garment on her lap. The girl ran her hand through the garment and found her fingers over the Uchiha family symbol, imprinted on the back of the garment. Sasuke gave Sakura his spare haori jacket for her to wear. The pink haired medic reminded herself that she had gotten over Sasuke, but still, the idea of wearing Sasuke's haori with his family crest printed on the back, created a warm and uncertain feeling inside her.

***

Tsunade was working late in her office, her mind going through various possible scenarios of Sakura's failure to meet at the rendezvous point. Shizune by her side, researching for a locating jutsu, anything they could find to quickly locate Sakura.

"I should have never let Sakura approach Uchiha Itachi alone," she said, regret washing over her beautiful face.

Shizune pressed her lips together and looked at her mentor, "Tsunade-hime, it's not your fault, it should have been a simple mission, especially with Itachi being extremely sick."

"No, no," the Hokage shook her head violently, banging her empty sake cup on to her cluttered work desk, "Itachi wouldn't do anything to her. What I'm afraid of is that he is too stubborn for his own good, refused Sakura's help and left her alone, leaving her exposed for other interested parties to abduct her."

Shizune swallowed a nervous tingle, "Who…who do you think has her?"

"I don't—"

POOF!

"Tsunade-sama, I have a message from Sakura-san."

The Hokage found herself looking at a small Katsuyu on her desk. "Katsuyu."

"Tsunade-sama, I am going to replay Sakura-san's message for you," the little snail said, clearing its throat as it suddenly spoke in Sakura's voice, "Tell her that first, I have successfully healed him but his mighty stubbornness refuse to accept anymore help. Second, tell her not too worry, its taking me a while to find a an ewe in river country but I've already got the medicinal husks she asked. Oh also, please remind her that she needs to look under the tatami for my keys! Send her my love, Katsuyu!"

Tsunade furrowed her brows.

"Tsunade-hime, that's excellent! She's doing fine! I'll go check her tatami for you!" Shizune said, standing up from her seat.

"Stay!" the hokage barked, making Shizune trembling back to her seat, "I didn't ask for a River country Ewe, or husks and she certainly does _not_ use tatami!"

Shizune looked at the snail questioningly, "Where was she, when she delivered the message?"

"My apologies, but I don't know where she is. I do hear water and…um…there was someone else behind her."

Tsunade leaned back, elbows resting on the arms of her chairs as she propped her chin on to her thumbs. "It's a code," she said, "Katsuyu, you may leave. Thank you for your kind help."

The blue snail bowed before it disappeared in a Poof.

Shizune understood what her mentor was saying. It was something that the three of them use, when in a situation of emergency, a message need to be delivered. The black haired medic quickly ripped a paper from an empty textbook and grab a pen to give to the Hokage.

"She was telling us that she healed Uchiha Itachi and my guess was half right. He was too stubborn to let us help him," Tsunade said while her pen grazes the paper, "she was intercepted before she could give us the rest of her message, that's why she said three obvious things. Things she knew I could spot straight away." She turned the piece of paper around for Shizune to see.

Shizune read her mentor's handwriting on the paper, "Ewe, husks and tatami" Her eyes widened as she hit something in realization, "It's an anagram!"

The hokage smiled, "Precisely. Now we just need to figure out what this is."

Ewe, Husks, Tatami.

The hokage closed her eyes as the alphabets danced around in her head. They were familiar letters. They were extremely familiar letters.

"Sasuke," Tsunade said. Her eyes open as she looked at Shizune nervously. "She's with Sasuke's team. There's a reason why she said husk in plural. Sakura is with Sasuke's team."

"Ewe, Husks, Tatami. With Sasuke's team!" Shizune shouted, "Oh my god, Tsunade-hime. Do you think she's in danger?"

Tsunade played her lips with her fingers, "I doubt it. If she were beaten up, Katsuyu would have mentioned it. Plus, she still have a lot of chakra for her to be summoning Katsuyu like that."

"What should we do?"

The hokage's fingers moved from her lips to knead her forehead, "Send a bird to Kakashi. Tell him to only watch for Sasuke's team, keep their distance and mask their chakra. I want to see what Sakura's got planned."

***

Konoha was her home. She knew that for sure.

But after being on mission after mission, she soon found her second home, and that was the forest. The tall and sturdy trees with its pleasant green leaf, the small critters she met crossing her path and the familiar smell of fresh dew bathed in morning light.

All of them.

Her second home.

And now, it's no different. Even though she was walking with blue haired fanged missing nin, a 'bipolar' ninja, a foul-mouthed red head and…Uchiha Sasuke, it was comforting to know that she still had the forest as her warm security blanket.

The group left their clearing before dawn breaks and Sakura was forced to continue their journey wearing Sasuke's spare haori and truth be told, it annoys her. Not because it wasn't comfortable or it didn't smell good. It was quite the complete opposite. She was more than certain that the haori was made from the finest cotton silk and surprisingly, it smelled really good. It was musky like wood but fresh like water. It smelled really masculine, it smelled like—Sasuke.

And _that_ was what irritated her the most.

All this years, she worked hard until she finally made peace with her past and got over her idiotic childhood crush. And now, after spending only three days with the object of her past infatuation, she was beginning to be scared of what she might be feeling. Sure, the childhood crush is gone. It was definitely gone. Unfortunately, it might have just been replaced by real…adult feelings.

When before, she was infatuated with him because of his looks and nothing else, now, she actually care for him and felt for him, for a reason. Call her crazy, but to Sakura, having a fight is like having a conversation. You talk through your body language, through the techniques and jutsus you are using and you make your point by how you end those fights.

With Sasuke, he always try to conceal his emotion when Sakura talks to him in the normal way that human do. But when he fights, the light in his eyes told the truth.

It shows a mixture of loneliness, anger, impatience and pain. But every time he ended those fights, Sakura could see remorse, affection and most importantly, hope.

And all she wants to do now was to reach out, hug him and maybe slap him for being such a stubborn. But she couldn't.

Already, the team was on the move, following Karin's direction as she sensed Itachi's chakra.

Sakura was confused with her new feelings, out of ideas to lure her former teammate back to Konoha and not fight Itachi and to top things of; Sasuke's haori barely covered her freezing ass. Which was exactly why she chose to follow them closely behind.

She saw Sasuke stopping his tracks, glancing over his shoulders to look at her and let his team mates to walk past him.

"Are you always this slow, Sakura?"

"No," she answered indignantly, "I have a slight…er…fashion problem," she whispered pointedly, pulling the edge of Sasuke's haori to cover more of her backside.

"My haori isn't good enough for you?"

Sakura stomped her feet, "Well if you haven't noticed, your haori just isn't long enough!"

Sasuke raised his eyebrows and leaned his body backwards to see what she's talking about. "Sasuke!" she screeched as she turned her body around.

"Looks fine to me," he said, "now, walk faster." The Sharingan wielder quickly brushed pass Sakura's and walked ahead of her. Busy straightening the haori she was wearing, Sakura missed the amused smirk on Sasuke's face. Instead, she grumbled at his orders and increased her walking pace.

She thanked god for her custom made gladiator sandals. The last thing she needed right now was minding her aching foot.

Suddenly the group comes into an abrupt halt as Karin yelled, "Stop! We've got company."

Juugo and Suigetsu looked cautiously to their right and left. "How many?" Suigetsu shouted, swinging his giant sword into position.

"Ten of them. Probably jounin-level. They sensed us, and will be here in thirty seconds."

Sakura couldn't believe her luck. She was literally having more than one big fight per day, and now she just had to forget about the fact that she was scantily covered and fight her ass off.

She took her kunai out and positioned herself in a fighting stance. She was focused, even when two ninjas suddenly landed out of nowhere in front of her, she didn't move an inch.

"My, look what we have here," one of the ninjas remarked, eye drinking in the smooth toned legs of Sakura. Sakura narrowed her eyes in slits. '_What a sexist pig!!! He didn't even consider the possibility that these legs can tore up a new hole up in his ass',_ she cursed.

Soon, more shinobi landed, surrounding the group. They weren't wearing any hitai-ate, so it was safe to assume that they were just another bunch of rogue shinobi, traveling in an extremely large number.

"What's a pretty girl like you doing with these people?" the other shinobi purred sickly as his eyes roamed over Sakura's body hungrily. Sasuke stepped in front of her.

"What do you want?" he asked.

"Ahh… the lover," the shinobi mocked.

Sasuke closed his eyes and opened it to reveal a flashing red eye.

"Taka! This guy's got a Sharingan! Bingo book says if we kill him we'll be rich!," the second Shinobi exclaimed before he looked back to Sakura, "Now pretty girl, let go of that kunai and follow m—!"

His sentence was cut by Sakura's kunai, now lodged deeply in his throat. "Sorry Taka-kun, I was getting sick of your friend underestimating me." Sasuke smirked at her sentence. "One down!!" he yelled to his group. With that, the rogue band of shinobi jumped at them.

Sakura fought with the shinobi named Taka. He was good at taijutsu, not as formidable as Sasuke or Rock Lee, but still good. Sakura blocked his hook and retaliated with a left roundhouse kick aiming at the side of his face. Something made him paused and as he lost focus, Sakura's foot met with his right jaw. She was pretty sure the painful crack that she heard meant that she had dislocated it. She didn't stop there. Concentrating her chakra into her fist, she punched the shinobi, sending him flying a few yards back.

Sakura stepped back, only to bump into Suigetsu's back. "You're pretty good, eh, Pinky?" he commented. Sakura glanced over her shoulder, Suigetsu was facing three opponents alone. "Seem like you need a hand," Sakura whispered, "now I need you to hold your breath and duck. NOW!"

Suigetsu ducked as Sakura blew poisonous air from her mouth. It had caught the enemies by surprise, allowing Suigetsu to leap above and behind them, taking on two enemies at once.

Sakura took another kunai from her pouch and twirled it in her hand before aiming at the enemy's head. He dodged the kunai, which sunk into a tree bark. 'Great,' she thought.

The enemy ninja charged at her. Sakura did a back flip to avoid him, kicking his chin upwards while doing it. When she went up, an enlarged hand was already throwing her enemy away, belonging to none other than Jugo.

Sakura then realized that she never found out what the abilities of Sasuke's new companions were. She looked to the left where Suigetsu confused his opponent as he turned himself into liquid and snickered as his opponent's kunai went right through his liquid form.

She turned her head back to see Jugo, big burly Jugo, giving blows to the enemy using his giant hand.

What about that bitchy redhead?

She scanned the area when she finally spot the redhead fighting one ninja, probably the one she had been fighting with since the start of the brawl. She didn't seem like she has any special abilities other than chakra sensing and tracking. Sakura wondered why Sasuke chose her.

On the corner of her eyes, she saw Sasuke fighting two shinobi. As he fought one, and sprayed him with his katon jutsu, she saw the other shinobi taking out a what looks like a bamboo flute, strangely familiar. She soon realized what it was and cart-wheeled her way to Sasuke, just in time to catch a poison-tipped needle, flying right in front of Sasuke's nose. With precision, Sakura threw it back to the shinobi that blew the senbon. It hit the enemy's throat, making him slump down in a growl.

Sasuke nodded at her, a sign of gratitude. He quickly examined the entire area, looking at his team mates and Sakura standing with enemy ninjas either dead or writhing on the ground. "All clear!" he bellowed, "Let's move!!"

Before she could even process what was happening, the team was already on the move again.

Sakura knew that even though she wasn't a spoilt brat, she simply couldn't live like this. Always moving around and always on the guard. Not knowing when enemy would cross path or when danger would falls. Fighting for your life at least once a day. It really toughens you up. She then paused her train of thought, knowing where it would go as she hit realization.

'_Maybe…maybe Sasuke was right_,' she thought.

She hated to admit this but maybe leaving Konoha had been the best way for him to get stronger, to hone his instinct and double his skills. Naruto left the village to train with Jiraiya, she herself gave up her teenage years to train with Tsunade-sama. Everyone has their own path and maybe, this path is Sasuke's way of ninja.

***

Until next time :)


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